Starring:
Year of Release: 1995
Rated: R
Director: Scott Kalvert
Approx. Running Time: 102 minutes
Format(s): DVD
My Rating: 2 stars (Out of 5)
Trailer:
From Back Cover:
"ELECTRIFYING! A BUST OUT STAR PERFORMANCE!"
-PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE
"STUNNING! DiCAPRIO IS A LATTER DAY JAMES DEAN."
-JANET MASLIN, NEW YORK TIMES
In a performance hailed by critics across the country, Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic/What's Eating Gilbert Grape) stars as Jim Carroll, a high school basketball hero headed for trouble. Teamed with his friends, Mickey (Mark Wahlberg of Boogie Nights), Neutron and Pedro, Jim seems headed for a bright basketball career. But when pressures from his coach (Bruno Kirby), his mom (Lorraine Bracco) and school begin to mount, Jim finds solace in all the wrong places, and the dark streets of New York begin to tear him apart. The Basketball Diaries is a riveting story of one boy's life on the edge.
My Comments:
The Basketball Diaries has received something of a notorious reputation due to its graphic depictions of violence, crime, and drug abuse. It has been accused of glorifying such behavior and has even been blamed, at least in part, for real acts of violence such as the Columbine shooting.
If you're interested in this film because of its notoriety, watch it. If you're interested in it because you respect Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor, watch it. But I wouldn't expect to have a fun time with it. This, like many other 2-star films, is a movie that - although it is well acted - lacks re-watchability.
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Rated R (MPAA)
2 Stars
1995 (Year of Release)
Biographical Films
Drama
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